CAT Business News

THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has disallowed
tariff plans with misleading titles such as `zero rentals'
on the ground that operators were continuing to charge
recurring hidden monthly fee. TRAI directed telecom
operators to show all monthly fixed recurring charges
under one head for the purpose of transparency to the
subscribers.

Public
sector oil firms spent over Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion)
on advertisements during the last three years, with
Indian Oil Corp topping the list with an expenditure
of Rs 275.35 crore (Rs 2.753 billion), Petroleum Minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar said.

Business
Line: STAR TV has every reason to smile, with its big
ticket show Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 (KBC 2) garnering
record ratings on the day of its launch. According to
a TAM analysis, KBC 2 topped ratings among the "1
hour timeslots" at All India level.

The
analysis says that the viewership share moved from 10
per cent prior to the launch to 38 per cent. In fact,
the study claims that these figures are higher than
KBC 1, which reportedly took the channel's share from
2 per cent to 25 per cent for that day-part.

Business
Line: THE B.K. Birla and Kumarmangalam Birla combine
has completed a leveraged buyout deal for around 24
per cent and 7 per cent stake respectively in Pilani
Investments and Industries Corporation from the G.P.
Birla and S.K. Birla groups for a total consideration
of around Rs 325 crore at Rs 1,500 a share.

The
deal had been funded through borrowings of around Rs
125 crore from IL&FS. Aditya Finance, the investment
wing of the combine, has made the payments.

BIKE-MAKER
Royal Enfield has launched two new variants and announced
the appointment of Mr R.L. Ravichandran, former marketing
head of Bajaj Auto, as its new CEO.

Business
Line: Manufacturing powers 11.7% industrial growth in
June

INDIAN industry grew by 11.7 per cent in June 2005 over
the corresponding period of the previous year powered
by robust growth in the manufacturing, electricity and
mining sectors. This is against 7.3 per cent year-on-year
growth during June 2004.

The
former Director of General Accounting at Worldcom was
sentenced today to one year and one day in prison for
his role in the company's record $11 billion fraud.

Hindustan
Lever Ltd (HLL) will merge associate company Vasishti
Detergents (VDL) with itself. The swap ratio is expected
to be 1:10, that is, for every 10 shares of VDL, a shareholder
of the detergent company would get one share of HLL.

State-owned
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has reduced its broadband
usage charges by 50 per cent from Rs 500 per month to
Rs 250 per month for a 256-Kbps connection, reports
Business Line.

Source
http://www.business-standard.com/ :The value of the
Tata brand is expected to have gone up six times over
the past eight years—from $1 billion in 1997 to $6 billion
now. The latest round of brand-valuation exercise of
the group is being conducted by Interbrand, an independent
agency, using data available in public domain.

The
valuers will also collate information from around 2,500
Tata products users before finalising the brand value.

Source
http://www.business-standard.com/ : With state-owned
oil companies collectively incurring losses to the tune
of Rs 140 crore a day, the petroleum ministry fears
they can start turning sick from the next month unless
the prices of petroleum products are raised immediately.

Source http://www.business-standard.com/ : With state-owned
oil companies collectively incurring losses to the tune
of Rs 140 crore a day, the petroleum ministry fears
they can start turning sick from the next month unless
the prices of petroleum products are raised immediately.

RELIANCE
Industries Ltd (RIL) has decided to demerge its holdings
in Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Infocomm
into separate entities for facilitating their transfer
into the Anil Ambani-led ADA Enterprises fold.

Every 100 shares in Reliance Industries Ltd will fetch
shareholders five shares of Reliance Capital Services,
seven shares of Reliance Energy Ltd, 100 shares of Global
Fuel Management Services Ltd and 100 shares of Reliance
Communications Ventures Ltd. These stock ratios are
not based on any valuation, but rather, on the fairness
principle, pricing and par value, said Mr Ambani, at
a press conference. While Reliance Capital (RCS) and
Reliance Energy (REL) are listed companies, Global Fuel
Management Services (GFMS) and Reliance Communications
Ventures Ltd (RCVL) will be newly set up, both to be
listed before March 31, 2006, he said.

RELIANCE Industries Ltd (RIL) has decided to demerge
its holdings in Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and
Reliance Infocomm into separate entities for facilitating
their transfer into the Anil Ambani-led ADA Enterprises
fold.

Every 100 shares in Reliance Industries Ltd will fetch
shareholders five shares of Reliance Capital Services,
seven shares of Reliance Energy Ltd, 100 shares of Global
Fuel Management Services Ltd and 100 shares of Reliance
Communications Ventures Ltd. These stock ratios are
not based on any valuation, but rather, on the fairness
principle, pricing and par value, said Mr Ambani, at
a press conference. While Reliance Capital (RCS) and
Reliance Energy (REL) are listed companies, Global Fuel
Management Services (GFMS) and Reliance Communications
Ventures Ltd (RCVL) will be newly set up, both to be
listed before March 31, 2006, he said.

LML
to get new marketing head

TWO-wheeler maker LML, which is planning for a turnaround
strategy, will soon have a new marketing head. Mr Pradeep
Saxena, who was General Manager - Marketing at Hyundai
Motor India, will now head LML's marketing division.

Business Line: Reliance Webstores to sell Air Deccan
tickets

AIR
Deccan flights can now be booked at Reliance
WebWorld's nationwide broadband chain through the
week.